


What She Needs

by DesertVixen



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
Genre: Female Friendship, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 14:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6989815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Una Meredith musing as she prepares for Household Science</p>
            </blockquote>





	What She Needs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [facethestrange](https://archiveofourown.org/users/facethestrange/gifts).



“You don’t need to leave, Una,” Rosemary Meredith said as she stood in the doorway to the girls’ room. It was beginning to look almost as impersonal as a spare bedroom. Faith was only rarely home, and now Una was to leave for Kingsport.

Una gave her stepmother a small smile. “I do.”

She did not need to get a position to survive, that was true. Una knew quite well that there would always be a home for her with her father and Rosemary, or with any of her siblings. But she had no desire to be Aunt Una, or Miss Una – the spinster aunt who needed to be taken care of. If she was to be alone – and she felt she would remain alone – then Una wanted to be needed. She wanted to care for people who truly needed her help, her care. She wanted to be useful, not pitied and tolerated. So she would go to Kingsport to take the Household Science course, and then she would see what paths lay open to her.

However, Una could not find the words to say so, not without hurting the people she loved. They would pretend that of course they needed her – and they would likely believe they spoke the truth. It might even be true. It was simply that she could not stand the prospect of seeing everyone with their partner, their family, and knowing that she would remain alone.

So Una did not speak of what was in her heart, but focused on more practical things. “It will be interesting to learn about ‘Household Science’ from experts,” she told Rosemary. “Not that I don’t appreciate all you’ve taught me.”

Rosemary had been the most wonderful stepmother, Una thought – almost like a fairy godmother. She had promised them that she would never try to usurp Cecelia Meredith’s place in her children’s memories, but that she would be more of an older sister, a trusted friend. She had kept her word wonderfully, Una thought. Faith had not needed her as badly as Una did, although they had all benefited from her influence. Aunt Martha had been easily convinced to hand over all her responsibilities, and take the retirement that she was entitled to. The older woman had passed her last few years in knitting, this time with quality yarn instead of castoffs donated to the manse.

There had been no more blue milk, no more lumpy porridge, no more ditto. There had been no more horrid striped stockings of low-quality wool or shabby too-short dresses made over by a half-blind aunt. All four children had quality clothes when they needed them, not just practical ones. Una could remember the joy she and Faith had felt when Rosemary took them to have their first “grown-up” dresses made, how lovely that dark gray dress had been. The manse table was always well-set, even during the recent war shortages.

They had returned to the manse after the newlyweds returned from their wedding trip to find it sparkling clean, with a fully stocked cellar, and Rosemary had ensured that it stayed that way. Perhaps Rosemary had not been able to solve all the household’s problems, but she had done what no one else had been able to – she had made the manse a home. 

Una had spent many happy hours with her, learning to cook the most wonderful recipes, as well as knitting and sewing – not just basic skills, but luxurious fancy work. Faith had been less interested in going past competence on basic tasks, but Una had reveled in it. Under Rosemary’s tutelage she had discovered how relaxing and soothing embroidery could be. Una did not exactly enjoy cleaning, but knowing how to do it efficiently and ensuring that it came out right made the task less onerous. Una could think of the many domestic disasters she and Faith had suffered through, and laugh over them.

And the music lessons – oh, those had been a balm to Una’s soul. Perhaps she didn’t play as well as others, but she loved it. It was a way to express all the feelings she felt without any words. Before Rosemary, it had been a luxury that she had only been able to dream about.

Una would be forever grateful that she had found the courage to ask Rosemary to become their stepmother. It was a little silly now to look back at how frightened she had been by Mary Vance’s lurid warnings about stepmothers. Those warnings had been groundless. It was still a warm memory to recall how Rosemary had explained to her that Mary Vance was a silly little girl who was dreadfully mistaken about some things. Una had taken it to heart, and it had given her the strength to ignore Mary Vance, even if she never stood up to her.

Una had often wondered why there were not more stories about wonderful stepmothers, stepmothers who helped their new daughters grow into women. Surely they deserved to be as well-known as the evil ones, if not better known. 

Rosemary looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. “It will be time for supper soon,” she said finally.

“I’ll be right down,” Una promised. It would not be a large gathering. Faith was still in England, but their brothers would be there. Una expected Nan and Rilla Blythe, at least, would be there. She looked forward to seeing them, even if it hurt a little to know that both of them had found the love she knew she never would. At least Rilla knew her secret, and had given Una the one gift that only she could have given her. It was likely that others would be there, and Una found she even longed to see Mary Vance before she left.

*** ***

Later that night, when the rest of the house was asleep, Una knelt in her closet. The gray silk dress that hung in there had once been in the back of the spare room closet, but Una had carried it away when the spare room began to be used more often. Cecelia Meredith had worn it on her wedding day, and it had been Una’s habit since her mother’s death to touch it when she needed strength. Una imagined that she could still smell the faintest hint of her mother’s perfume clinging to the dress. It had always felt to her as if she was resting her head on her mother’s lap when she knelt there. She wished she could take it with her, but there would be little room for a dress she could never wear, even if it fit her. The dress would stay here, safe enough – and Una would have to count on the moment of this memory to carry her into the future.

She would have to be practical, in her new future. She would have to contribute something, even if she wasn’t sure what form that contribution would take. Nursing did not appeal to her, and while her sewing skills were quite improved, Una knew that being a dressmaker or milliner did not appeal to her. But surely there was something she could do – someone or someplace that needed her. Perhaps it would be children, she thought, thinking of the sharp-tongued, frightened wraith that Mary Vance had been when the manse children found her. Una thought there would be something very satisfying about working with children.

She would simply have to keep her eyes open for that need that could fill the hole in her own life.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this! I had fun getting inside Una's head. The idea of Rosemary as their friend and older sister, rather than replacing their mother, was something I thought you would enjoy from your prompt.
> 
> Per your request, there are no male characters and no romance. There is a passing reference to the Meredith boys, but they do NOT appear.


End file.
